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Specs Gives Back

Posted by Specs
on
February 28, 2017

Specs Gives Back

Specs is proud to be a Wichita born
and raised company. We have thrived in this town and we want to give back to
the city that has always been there for us. Whether it be volunteer during events,
water donation, sponsorship donations, or anything else that comes up, Specs is
there to give back.

“In the
beginning, we rarely turned down a request for a donation item,” said Monte. “We
showed up to events, connected with new friends and customers. Growing our
business while giving back to the community was fun. It’s hard to put a dollar
value on donations, but over the last three years we estimate it to be around
$200,000.” Time, value, donated merchandise for charity auctions, golf
tournaments, and other fundraisers; Specs was thrilled to participate.

Around
2004, Specs discovered that, while people don’t necessarily like to be
advertised to, they don’t mind a cold bottled water that happens to have a logo
on it. Specs-labeled water bottles soon found their way into the hands of
thirsty charity race runners, walkers and golfers, responsible young prom-goes,
Chamber patrons and just generally nice people everywhere. From 2013-2016,
Specs donated over 100,000 bottles of water into the community.

Because
kids like to see too, Smart Specs, an initiative to get involved in helping schools,
quickly took root in the new culture. In the Circle District, a wildly popular
program put free sunglasses or eyeglasses in the hands of 6th
graders who exceeded their reading goals. Parents and teachers agreed; the kids
were incentivized.

“Kids that
hated to read in the past wouldn’t put down their books – they wanted new
glasses?” – An amazed teacher. The eyewear as prize-wear worked again in the
Andover school system, and for the Derby 6th grade winners of a
video production contest. Kids love Smart Specs and staff members love the excitement
when the enterprising young student comes to pick out their new eyewear. In the
past 3 years, Specs is proud to have donated nearly 400 pairs of eyewear to
these programs.

In 2014,
Specs had a great idea and partnered with Maize South High School for a food
drive; a pair of free Oakley sunglasses for each homeroom student that brought
the most food. School administrators liked the idea, the students LOVED the
idea, and when the students brought in over 10,000 pounds of food, the Kansas
Food Bank was pretty jazzed too.

If you have an event coming up that you think Specs can assist please send us information. We are always looking for opportunites to give back to the community and would love to hear from you!